Nice going, Jeff.
For those who don’t know, Jeff (“Print is Dead”) Gomez is an Internet marketer for Holtzbrinck.
It’s one of the giants of publishing and owner of such houses as Farrar, Straus and Giroux and St. Martin’s Press, as well as the Macmillan Group.
Related: Earlier TeleBlog items here and here. So, Jeff, what do you think of the idea of “giving people the option of paying a little more to enjoy DRMfree e-books—perhaps with bonus content, or even discounts on the same p-books”? The best DRM policy for most books is, “None.” But failing that—well, the less the better.
(Via Peter Brantley.)
Jeff here; well, I definitely agree that DRM restrictions will have to be lessened if we’re going to ever get any kind of real momentum going when it comes to the adoption of digital reading. However, as the EMI announcement shows, this is not an easy decision; music has been heatedly debating this for years, and the consequences for them is huge (billions being made in downloads, CD sales tanking), whereas in publishing there is nowhere near the same kind of pressure to change. Now, whether or not you think this is a good thing or a bad thing is a measurement of where you stand on the future of the book debate, but I don’t personally think that the “DRM decision,” if we can call it that, is quite ready to be made in terms of publishing. That being said, the developments with iTunes, EMI, and digital music in general, will eventually prove crucial for trade publishers, and we should all keep our eyes (and ears) on this space.
–JMG
Hi, Jeff. I agree that the decision isn’t easy. Still, I certainly second your opinion that “compared to the alternative — no one wanting to read their books — it’s apparent that the time has come to experiment and put the power in the hands of the consumers. After all, as Tim O’Reilly says (and which I repeat all of the time), ‘The enemy isn’t piracy, the enemy is obscurity.'” Amen! In an e-book context, the elimination or reduction of DRM would be major progress in the above regard. That’s what you seem to be advocating in at least an experimental way. However, given your just-made comments, I’ve changed the headline from “should try.” Thanks. David
Jeff; as always I agree with almost everything you have ever said in your entire life. However, I think sometimes the difference between DRM and interoperability between formats gets muddled. The hurdles that customers face are not so much about the book being locked so that you cannot cut, print, paste, share, as it is that the books are locked onto one type of device. A larger issueis that the books cannot be transferred to all your other digital gadgets to move with you under different throughout your day, travels, and circumstances. Paperbacks do a better job of that.
Big thanks for your additional perspective, Claire. The DRM and interoperability issues are not the same, obviously, but e-book DRM tends to be proprietary, so that in effect the eBabel Tower is still a factor. Be interesting to see what Jeff has to say in reply to your comments. I’d love to see the same books readable on cell phones, desktops, Sony Readers, you name it. That means comprehensive compatibility, including consideration of DRM, if you want to use it (I respect your right to disagree with me on this!). With proper decisions at the industry level, yes, e-books can truly be like the paperbacks that we both love–except that a much wider variety of reading material will be available, to the economic advantage of publishers and readers alike, not to mention the advantages for society in general. I remain unabashedly bookcentric despite my appreciation of alternatives
Meanwhile I hope that you and Jeff will both think about the just-posted item on the Sony PSP and similar machines as e-book readers. Like you, I see plenty of value in traditional books in e-format (even though I’m also a believer in networked books). And if the book-publishing industry could piggyback on the games business—the hyperpopular hardware—that would be wonderful.
Thanks,
David